An edible garden
The virtues of caring and compassion
Children are natural and curious gardeners. They love to be involved, hands on, especially when they can take on a nurturing and caring role with responsibilities. In line with our Montessori philosophy we have prepared the environment so the children are able to work in our garden independently and purposefully. The highlight is the harvesting, when the chilren can pick the vegetables, taste the herbs and smell the flowers they have nurtured and cared for over weeks, and sometimes months.
Our new garden gives our children an understanding of the process of growing fresh fruits and vegetables in a hands-on manner. They learn about health and nutrition as they sow seeds, plant seedlings and water and care for the plants, followed with harvesting and food preparation. Children love to try new foods, especially when they have grown the food themselves or at least been involved in collecting the food source. The final celebration takes place when we all sit around our Peace Pole, enjoying our home made nutritious meal, may it be a curry, a savoury muffin (made with eggs from our free range chickens), or a chunky vegetable soup. What is more tasteful and nutritious then our own homegrown food, nurtured with love!
